1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to hand tools used in the building construction art. More particularly, the present invention relates to a drywall bead press used to make precise and consistent straight and angular cuts to drywall bead.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern framing and drywall often includes corner bead material. The product is widely used to create round and otherwise finished corners. A number of obstacles face a construction worker in the installation of drywall corner bead. Traditional hand snips utilized in the construction industry are imprecise. For example, an angled cut must be made to match two opposing pieces of drywall bead material in a doorframe corner. The precision of the cut is important to ensure that drywall tape and mud can be applied to a smooth base, thereby ensuring a smooth and continuous surface in the finished wall. Often, large pieces of drywall bead material must be discarded following a less than perfect cut using hand snips.
Another problem is the contoured cross-sectional shape of the drywall bead. If traditional hand snips are used to cut the material, the straight cutting action of the snips crushes and distorts the contoured cross-section at the cut location. At a corner where both opposing pieces of drywall bead must be cut, the damaged cross-sectional shape of the adjoining pieces may easily result in a blemish in the finished surface. To compound the problem, modern architectural design often calls for walls and other interior surfaces that intersect at odd angles. In this situation, construction workers often apply a cut and fit approach which is both inefficient and often produces less than satisfactory results.
Accordingly it would be advantageous to provide a tool that eliminates the imprecision of hand-eye gauged drywall bead cutting that increases the precision of drywall bead cuts by controlling the angle of the cut, that does not distort the drywall bead cross-section and that helps to eliminate the disposal of costly construction materials. It is thus to such a drywall bead press and method that the present invention is primarily directed.